Hiding Places
by Ebenbild
Summary: Dean is on the run from the Snatchers in his seventh year. He stumbles over the most confusing people he ever met. If he had known he would be surrounded by insanity all year long, he might have gone with the Snatchers willingly... "Well," he said finally. "Anyone else missing from those on the run?"
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer**_ _: I'm too young to be Rowling so there is sadly no way Harry Potter is mine…_

 _ **Placing:**_ _Seventh_ _year_ _._

 _Challenge: 'Prompt of the day'. Prompt_ _: (_ _setting_ _)_ exhibition _. 2000_ _words_ _._ _Gryffindor_ _,_ _Hogwarts_ _._

xXxXxXxXxXxNapxXxXxXxTimexXxXxXxXxTimexXxXxXxXxNapxXxXxXxXxXxXx

sSsSsSsSs

 _ **HIDING PLACES**_

sSs

Dean Thomas groaned inwardly when he noticed the Snatchers on his trail. Since Voldemort had taken over the Ministry, more and more muggleborn and different thinking half- and purebloods had gone into hiding.

The Snatchers were Voldemort's people, send out to find and retrieve muggleborns so that they could be sentenced by the new 'Ministry'.

Dean as one of the suspected muggleborns – his mother was muggle, but his father was an unknown – had decided on fleeing instead on waiting for his imprisonment. His family on the other hand, had left Britain on his advice and was currently settling in the United States of America. Dean might have joined them, but to integrate as a wizard was a lot harder than as a muggle, so he had left them and stayed in Britain.

And now, Snatchers were on his trail – again.

It was the eighth time in two months.

Dean loathed it.

"Well," he thought to himself. "Hiding place… hiding place… hiding place?"

His eyes scanned the buildings in his area.

 _Nothing._

Well, he wouldn't give up, so he had to move until he found what he searched for.

"Hiding place… hiding place… hiding place?"

 _No, not here as well._

"Hiding place… hiding place… hiding place?"

Again, not what he searched for. He rounded a corner and entered a new street in high speed, fully aware of the Snatchers just a block behind. He was also sure that they either had a tracking spell on him or something told them that he was magical and they followed his magical trail. Whatever it was, it was hard to get rid off.

"Hiding place… hiding place? Hiding place!"

 _Finally!_

The house he was looking at was nothing special in muggle eyes. It was a typical house, maybe bigger, but all in all nothing that stuck out in the middle of muggle London. If you were muggle, you would see a normal house, nothing special to look at – and if you were magical –

Well, there was a reason why Dean had decided that this house would be the one he would use to hide in.

 _sSs_

When Dean had been little, he had lived with his mum and step-dad, unaware that he was magical. Normally it wasn't that much of a Problem for muggleborn to fit into the muggle world, but Dean had to live in one of the oldest parts of London – and hidden in some of those old buildings was some very quirky magic.

Dean guessed that a lot of those old buildings had once been the property of witches or wizards. Those witches and wizards had put up wards to hide their buildings. Some of the buildings had wards, hiding the building from muggles – Dean had always seen them and confused his parents by pointing at them and asking about those odd houses.

Others on the other hand, had been hidden from muggles and wizards alike. When the family died out, the wards hiding the property from muggles had slowly eroded – this happened because every contact with a muggle triggered the ward into reacting until the ward was depleted and finally snapped. There was a reason why wards had to be renewed after some years and why some wards held up longer than others.

The wards against wizards on the other hand, mostly held up longer than those against muggles – simply because they were triggered less often and therefore were able to keep their strength a lot better than the anti-muggle ones.

Young Dean hadn't been able to see those houses, something that confused him and his parents greatly. Seeing houses that weren't there was one thing, since Dean was young and prone to imagine things, but not seeing houses that were there… well, that was definitely odd.

So little Dean had done what he had to do: He had trained himself to see those houses. In other words, he had trained himself to hide his magic enough so that the wards didn't react to him anymore.

And it was this ability that had saved Dean's life not just once since the day he had started his run from Voldemort's people.

 _sSs_

The house Dean was aiming for was one of those houses. Dean always saw an odd shine, as if someone decided to surround the building's structure with LEDs, surrounding the house or the property. Dean guessed that those were the wards he had learned to hide from when he was a little boy.

Again, Dean looked over his shoulder, then he slung into the alley next to the house he was aiming for and searched for a window.

He didn't have a lot of time. The Snatchers were hot on his heels.

The windows were closed.

"Damn," Dean whispered to himself. The house was alight with light, meaning that he simply couldn't break into the house by throwing in a window and using magic while trying to hide from Snatchers was never a good idea. "Damn… damn… damn… damn!"

He had nearly reached the end of the property, when he finally saw a way to get in. Up on the first floor, a window wasn't fully closed.

Dean looked around, then he took a deep breath, sped up and, using a car and a dumpster as a jumping aid, flung himself up towards the first floor window.

His hands got a hold of the window sill, but for a moment, Dean had the dreaded feeling of slipping. Then his body was stopped by the wall beneath the window and his hands tightened around the window sill.

He breathed in relieved, before pulling himself up and onto the window sill. The window creaked open when he pushed against it and he slit into the building. The moment he had solid floor beneath his feet, he turned around again and looked outside the window.

Beneath him in the alleyway, five confused Snatchers stared at the dead end in front of them in confusion.

"He must have apparated," one of them finally said growling.

"We would pick up his trail if he had," another one pointed out irritated.

"So what? You want to tell me that he managed to hide from us without using any kind of magic?" The first one growled.

"Well, he is one of the more clever ones," the second one pointed out and then shook his head. "Let's wait in the main street. He will come out soon enough."

The others nodded and Dean closed the window so that it looked the same it had before he entered. Then he ambled cautiously down the hall.

"Sir?" Dean nearly jumped in the air when he was suddenly spoken to.

He turned around and saw a man in a suit standing not far from him.

"I am sorry, sir, but guests aren't allowed into this part of the building," the man said and Dean decided that it would do him no good to point out that he wasn't a guest in any way or form.

"I… er… I was in search for the toilet," he stammered.

"Ah, of course," the man said. "You must have taken a wrong turn on the stairs. Let me show you the way."

So Dean followed. In the loo, he at least washed his hands and inwardly sighed in relief that at least his hair and clothing didn't look as if he was a runaway or something like that. Funnily, the dirt strains on his jeans actually looked like being put there on purpose, not as if his trousers showed the results of his acrobatics.

The man – servant, Dean guessed – was waiting for him in front of the loo.

"Let me guide you back to the exhibition, sir," he said. Just two minutes later, Dean found himself in a wide hall, plastered with modern art.

"Thank you," he said and the servant inclined his head and left him.

Dean relaxed and started to wander so that he wouldn't stand out. When he found a buffet, he didn't even stop and think about it, but instead went for it enthusiastically. The most stuff was quite fancy, but if you had to live with irregular meals, you learned not to care what you ate, as long as the stuff was eatable.

Dean guessed that staying might actually be quite an interesting change of his current normal routine. He might not be a fan of modern art, but he guessed that he could learn to like it if it meant he wouldn't have to leave any time soon.

"Well," he mumbled to himself. "Looks like I'll have a quiet afternoon surrounded by modern art."

"I'd say you're not the only one who decided to have that," another voice said and when Dean turned, he could only stare at the speaker.

"Nott?" He exclaimed, a little terrified.

Nott nodded.

"Yeah," he said. "I came here with Hannah, Dennis and Colin."

"Huh?" This time Dean only looked confused at the son of a known Death Eater.

Theodore Nott shrugged.

"I said 'no' to the Dark Mark and fled my home," he explained grimly. "There were a bunch of Snatchers after me, when I stumbled into Dennis Creevey. He took me here, telling me that other wizards can't see the building. Well, I couldn't as well until Dennis brought me in. He also told me that his brother and Hannah Abbott were here."

Dean blinked at that in surprise, then looked around the room.

"Huh," he said. "Never thought that anybody else would know how to bypass those wards."

But then, Dean guessed that it was logical. The Creevey brothers were magical like him. There was a possibility that they stumbled into wards like the ones surrounding them before their time at Hogwarts.

In that moment, Colin Creevey emerged from the crowd surrounding them.

"Hey Theo –"

When he saw Dean, he stopped in his tracks, then a smile spread over his face.

"Hya, Dean!" He greeted the older boy. "Fancy meeting you here!"

Dean snorted.

"Well, I could say the same, Colin," he said in amusement.

Colin waved it off.

"I live in a house hiding behind those damn wizard-repelling wards. I basically had to learn how to circumvent them or I would have always gotten lost just after leaving home," he grinned at that.

In that moment another voice spoke up.

"Hey, wait!" The speaker said surprised. "Aren't you two Gryffindors?"

Dean and Colin turned and Nott leaned forward so that he could look around Dean and see who had been speaking.

Dean frowned.

"Aren't you a Ravenclaw?" He returned the question.

The other boy blinked.

"Hufflepuff," he corrected. "I'm Justin Finch-Fletchley."

"Ah, sorry," Dean said embarrassed.

"Don't worry," another voice said from the other direction. "If you need a Ravenclaw, I'm here as well."

Dean and the others turned to look at the newcomer, a girl.

"Su Li," she introduced amused. "Ravenclaw."

Dean blinked and then exchanged a look with Nott.

Nott shrugged.

It was then, that another voice spoke up from behind Dean.

"Tell me," the girl's voice said. "Did you plan a class reunion and forgot to invite us?"

Dean turned around again.

This time it was Nott, who spoke up surprised.

"Tracey," he said.

"The same," she replied and then gestured to the boy next to her. "And that's Oliver Rivers, another Ravenclaw. We're travelling together since we met."

Dean looked around.

"Well," he said finally. "Anyone else missing from those on the run?"

"Except of Potter and his little gang, no idea," Nott drawled.

"Ah, well," Colin said, waving off the question. "I'm sure that if there's someone else on the run from your year, you'll meet them here, considering that someone seems to have send out an invite to nearly anybody from Hogwarts on the run."

Dean snorted.

"Happy class reunion, huh?" He asked sarcastically. "Don't worry, boys and girls, the buffet is already open!"

The next person they met, was from Colin's year. It seemed as if truly half of those 'on the run' from Hogwarts had thought it a good idea to take a break at the exhibition.

Dean wasn't surprised after that afternoon, that he discovered a new found weakness for modern arts.

xXxXxXxXxXxNapxXxXxXxTimexXxXxXxXxTimexXxXxXxXxNapxXxXxXxXxXxXx

 _Just a little idea_

 _Hope you liked it_

 _Ebenbild_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer**_ _: I'm too young to be Rowling so there is sadly no way Harry Potter is mine…_

 _ **Placing:**_ _Seventh_ _year_ _._

 _Challenge: 'Prompt of the day'. Prompt_ _: (_ _insult_ _)_ youth _. 1523_ _words_ _._ _Gryffindor_ _,_ _Hogwarts_ _._

xXxXxXxXxXxNapxXxXxXxTimexXxXxXxXxTimexXxXxXxXxNapxXxXxXxXxXxXx

sSsSsSsSs

 _ **HIDING PLACES**_

 _ **Part II: Old Men**_

sSs

Dean groaned when he saw some people trying to creep near him without him noticing.

 _Snatchers._

 _Again._

Since the Ministry had fallen and Dean had gone on the run, he had had at least twenty run-ins with You-Know-Who's henchmen. Until now, none of them had ever been able to catch him – even if it had been a few times by the skin of his teeth that he managed to escape.

"Why do they always find me?" Dean inwardly complained while he started to slither through the crowd of the mall he had been in. "Do I have a beacon attached, or what?"

He couldn't explain it.

He wasn't doing any magic.

He wasn't anywhere near the magical world.

And yet, here he was, being followed again.

"It sucks to be me," Dean thought. "Wonder if others have the same trouble I do…"

Well, since he was alone, he couldn't ask anyone.

"Guess that question will have to wait," Dean thought unhappily. "Well, let's try to outrun this bunch first."

He left the mall and turned towards the older parts of Aberdeen. Some of the old wards were in place there as well, meaning that some houses were laterally hidden from wizards. Dean, having grown up in the muggle world, had learned to ignore those wards.

"Hmm," he mumbled while trying to lose his trail. "Wizard-repelling wards… wizard-repelling wards…"

He looked up and down the street, hoping for the odd shine surrounding a building that showed him that wizard-repelling wards were upon it.

 _Nothing._

"Not good," Dean concluded. "Definitely not good."

He turned around the next corner into the next street.

The footsteps of his pursuers already audible on the tarmac behind him.

He hadn't had a lot of time anymore.

The moment they managed to get into an appropriate distance, they would be able to down him with their spells.

Dean looked around hurriedly.

No wizard-repelling wards anywhere.

"Damn," he cursed. "Damn… damn… damn!"

Then the Snatchers turned around the corner.

"There is he!" One of them shouted. "Bring him down!"

The next moment, spells started to fly.

Dean ducked beneath the first two and sidestepped the second ones.

"Shit," he cursed. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!"

The next batch of spells sailed over his head.

Of course, Dean could pull out his wand and try to fight back, but he knew that that would just bring more Snatchers to his location, since his magic was somehow monitored by the new ministry.

Then one spell graced him and blood coloured his shoulder red.

"Oh, no, no, no, no!" Dean breathed while trying to fasten up his running.

Two meters from the next corner.

One.

A spell hit him into the back and suddenly he was falling instead of running.

Behind him he could hear the triumphant shout of his attacker.

"Let's get him before he manages to undo your spell," one of the others said and that was when Dean came to a horrible realisation.

 _He was done for._

Today, he would lose his freedom.

"No," he whispered. "Please, no! Please!"

But Dean knew that there was no use pleading. Nobody hear him anyway – and if they did, nobody would step up to help him. It had always been like that since he started to run. He didn't expect it to change now that he was captured.

"Honestly, youth!" A voice said suddenly.

Dean's capturers had been about to force him to stand up, when the voice could be heard behind them.

Then a baseball bat came down on their heads. The bat hit them sideways, taking down all four of them with just one powerful stroke.

"No idea about fighting anymore these days," the stranger sneered.

Then he looked at Dean and shook his head.

"Honestly, youth!" He repeated. "A simple spell and they lie flat on their faces!"

With that he grabbed Dean by his arm, not even caring about the fact that Dean couldn't move thanks to the full body-bind he was under and started to drag the boy with him around the corner.

There, just behind the corner was one of the houses Dean had been looking for.

"Wizard-repelling wards," Dean thought dazed while he was literally dragged along into the house by the old man with the baseball bat.

Inside the house the man unceremoniously dumped Dean onto the couch in the living room before vanishing into the kitchen. Dean could hear him puttering around and two minutes later the old man returned with a tea-tray in his hands.

He raised an eyebrow at Dean.

"You plan to sit there under the spell all day or what?" He asked frowning. "Well, go on, dispel it!"

Dean growled.

"Can't," he forced out between his teeth.

The man just snorted.

"Youth," he grumbled again, spitting the word out like an insult. "No imagination these days!"

Dean just stared at the man.

"Dispel it yourself," he gritted through his frozen teeth.

The man just sat down his tray and made himself tea.

"I'm a squib, youth," he said. "No can do, sorry."

He didn't sound sorry at all.

Dean growled.

"Then why do you think I can dispel a curse like that," he asked mumbling. "It's not as if you have any experience with magic."

The old man just shrugged, amusement in his eyes.

"Who says I don't have any experience?" He asked. "Because I told you that I'm a squib? Nah, youth, you've got to find a better argument than that. I grew up around magic. I know what's possible and what not. Now, quit stalling and dispel it!"

Dean couldn't even object to the argument presented to him. So he sighed and closed his eyes, trying to find a way to dispel the damn curse on his body.

He didn't know how long he sat there, but when he opened his eyes again, the other man was still drinking tea, even if the tea pot was nearly empty.

Carefully Dean tried to move his arms. He was sure that something had been broken when he had tried to get rid of the curse on his body. Since he doubted that it was his ability to do magic, he guessed that he had destroyed the curse.

When his arms moved without restrictions, he sighed.

"Finally," the old man grumbled. "I began to fear that you actually planned to sit there all night to undo such a simple curse!"

"It wasn't simple," Dean said indignantly.

"It's a first year spell," the old man said dryly.

"It still wasn't simple to undo!" Dean argued.

"It's a _first year_ spell, youth!" The old man argued. "It's simple by nature!"

"But -!"

"Even I can undo it – and I can't use magic, youth!" The old man said annoyed.

Dean closed his mouth.

 _If you put it like that…_

He turned his head towards the floor in shame.

The old man just sighed and shook his head.

"Honestly, youth!" he grumbled before gesturing to the tea set. "Take some tea, lad," he said. "And then we'll discuss your appalling behaviour out there on the streets."

"Appalling?" Dean asked incredulously. "I don't think that it was appalling at all!"

The old man just gave him the evil eye.

"If you are confronted with thugs like that," he said coolly. "Being taken down like a rat is appalling. You should have taken _them_ down with style, instead!"

"I can't use magic on them!" Dean argued. "The ministry is somehow tracking it!"

"Magic, magic, magic," the old man said while rolling his eyes. "Truly, youth! With you it's all 'magic this and magic that'! Idiots, the lot of them!"

Dean pouted.

"We're not idiots," he argued.

The old man just raised an eyebrow and pointed at the baseball bat in the corner.

"Truly?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. "Then tell me why you are the third teen I have to teach about the force of a blunt object and the idea of sneaking up on your enemies?"

Dean blinked at that in surprise.

"The third?" He asked and the old man waved it off.

"You all somehow like to stumble upon me," he said dismissively. "Now, let's make sure that you get some rest youth and tomorrow I teach you how to bring down a Dark Lord, squib-Black style."

"Black?" Dean asked surprised.

"Marius Black at your service," the old man said bowing slightly while sitting.

"Related to the mass murderer Sirius Black?" Dean asked a little bit concerned.

The old man just waved it off.

"Ah, along the road we're all related to a mass murderer or two," he said unconcerned. "Some of us just closer than others. More tea?"

Dean wasn't at all reassured by the maniac grin that had spread over the old man's face. Somehow, Dean felt that he was in for quite a few… interesting days from today onward.

Three weeks later, Dean left Marius' with a backpack and a baseball bat in his hands.

Let the Snatchers come at him.

He was ready to show them the way to hell…

xXxXxXxXxXxSlytherinxXxXxXxWayxXxXxXxXxWayxXxXxXxXxSlytherinxXxXxXxXxXxXx

 _Just a little idea_

 _Hope you liked it_

 _Ebenbild_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer**_ _: I'm too young to be Rowling so there is sadly no way Harry Potter is mine…_

 _ **Placing:**_ _Seventh_ _year_ _._

 _Challenge: 'Prompt of the day'. Prompt_ _: (_ _dialogue_ _)_ "I won't tell, I'm not a snitch!" "What's this, the mafia?" _1555_ _words_ _._ _Gryffindor_ _,_ _Hogwarts_ _._

xXxXxXxXxXxNapxXxXxXxTimexXxXxXxXxTimexXxXxXxXxNapxXxXxXxXxXxXx

sSsSsSsSs

 _ **HIDING PLACES**_

 _ **Part III: Mafia**_

sSs

Marius Black was reading.

It was a good book, all you wanted to know about the history of torture and punishment.

He had planned a quiet evening, with lots of reading, some tea and then an early dinner.

In that moment, somebody knocked on his entrance door.

He stopped reading and for a moment contemplated if ignoring whoever it was would make them go away. Then a second knock was heard and he figured that: 'no, it wouldn't.'

Marius sighed, put his book aside and stood up to walk to the door.

He removed the chain and opened it.

Outside stood a teenager, supporting another one.

"Hey Mr. Black!" Dean said oddly cheerful considering that he was officially on the flight from Tom Riddle and his goons and his world in the middle of a war. Of course, the half-unconscious teenager definitely shouldn't help with Dean's cheerfulness at all, nor the fact that Dean had a bloody baseball bat strapped to his backpack.

Marius raised an eyebrow.

"Lad," he said, not too impressed with the fact that he had his ex-student in all things 'baseball bat and how to use it' in front of his doorstep.

"Did we make it for tea time?" Dean asked cheerfully. "'Cause I really could need a good tea right now!"

Marius stared at the youth and thought over his predicament.

Letting them in and maybe not getting rid of them any time soon or leaving them outside and maybe having one of them die on his doorstep?

He groaned inwardly.

His nice, quiet evening was going down the drain…

"Come on in, lad," he sighed, stepping aside unhappily.

"Thanks, old man!" Dean replied while basically dragging the other youth inside the house.

"Did you come here because of the wards on the house repelling the Snatchers on your trail or was it because of something else?" Marius finally asked darkly.

Dean frowned, clearly just in that moment starting to think about his reasons.

"Well," he finally said. "We were near here…"

Then he thought it over more.

"And you're friendly," he added and when Marius raised an eyebrow, he elaborated. "I mean you're not an enemy. You wouldn't snitch on us to the Snatchers."

The older man snorted.

"Just because I wouldn't even know how to contact those Snatchers," he said gruffly. Dean rolled his eyes at the older man fondly.

"Sure, old man," he said lightly. "Don't deny it: I'm not the only one you picked up, brought home and cared for since this war actually began!"

The old man looked at the half-unconscious youth in Dean's hand with an accusingly raised eyebrow.

Dean followed his gazes, and flushed.

"Well," he said frowning. "This time it might have been me – but that's a first one! I haven't done that thing before and you know it!"

Marius sighed.

"One time!" He groaned. "One time I bring someone here – and of course it bites me in the ass!"

"It wasn't just one time," Dean argued smugly. "You told me about the two times before when I was still fighting against that curse, so it has been at least three times!"

"Well, the other two times don't come back at random intervals," Marius argued back while guiding Dean until he could put down the half-unconscious youth on the couch.

"I don't come back at random intervals!" He pouted. "I wasn't here since you bat in those Snatchers heads and saved me!"

Marius just looked at him pointedly.

"And the three weeks after were my imagination, or what?" He asked incredulously.

Dean just pouted.

"You taught me how to use a baseball bat," he said petulantly. "And how to undo magic without a stick."

Marius eyebrows furrowed.

"You were too long in my house if you refer to your wand as a 'stick'," he grumbled.

Dean just shrugged.

"Well, your house's comfy," he said, not sounding too bothered even when Marius' gaze hardened.

"It is," Dean just said shrugging. "It's also in a very good place in Aberdeen. You can reach it from quite a lot of places easily."

"In muggle language those connections are named 'train station'," Marius said dryly.

Dean just shrugged.

"Whatever," he said cheerfully.

"And those don't explain why you're here again – barely two weeks after I finally got rid of you!"

"Well, Theo here needed a place to lay low," Dean said cheerfully. "Yours was just convenient."

"Theo?" Marius Black asked concerned.

"Theodore Nott," Dean elaborated, still quite cheerful.

Marius' eyes widened at that.

"You brought a Nott into my house?" He asked, concern now clearly displayed in his features and voice.

The half-unconscious youth groaned and fingered his head wound.

"I won't tell anybody about this safe-house – and definitely not the Snatchers," he mumbled tiredly. "I might be a Nott, but that doesn't mean that I will talk to any family members about this."

Marius' eyes narrowed.

Then he sat down into his own chair and picked up his book again.

"If you decide that you don't need to follow through with your promise after I patched you up and let you run wild again – I will try out what I'm currently learning on you," with that he tapped lightly against the book with his fingers.

Theodore Nott's eyes widened when he read the title.

 _Dark Justice: The History of Punishment and Torture._

Then his eyes met Marius' cool, asserting ones.

"I won't tell, I'm not a snitch!" He cried.

Marius just stared.

"What's this, the mafia?" Dean spoke up amused before Marius could even start his reply.

Marius thought over that suggestion.

"Nah, lad," he finally said, waving it off. "The Blacks might have been the mafia of the wizarding world, but I was out of business long before its fall already."

Dean rolled his eyes.

"For being out of business, you definitely did a good job at frightening Theo," he said and Marius followed his gaze to the stone-like sitting figure with huge eyes that was Theodore Nott.

The poor boy was pale as a ghost.

He shrugged again.

"He's a Nott," he said. "And I'm a Black. We Blacks always had to make sure with the Notts, since our families never truly saw eye-to-eye in a lot of things."

Theodore gulped.

"I ran away from my family," he said finally while Marius put his book down and pulled out his first-aid from one of his cabinets. "I'm basically disowned and therefore not a Nott anymore."

"I'm a squib and therefore disowned as well," Marius said. "Didn't really matter to any other Nott I ever met."

Dean looked at him in surprise.

"Did you meet a lot of Notts, old man?" He asked.

Marius crooked his head.

"Nah," he said. "But half of the current family met my baseball bat. That should count for something as well, don't you think so, too, lad?"

Dean looked at him shrewdly.

"You sure that you aren't playing 'one man mafia' there, old man?"

Marius waved it off.

"Definitely not," he said. "Taking over some of their businesses and cementing in some Snatchers and Death Eaters feet to throw them into the bay or bashing some of the others' head in with my baseball bat doesn't make me mafia, boy."

Dean looked at Marius with new found respect.

"Er… I'm actually not too sure about that," Theodore spoke up in that moment, flinching away from Marius who had started to clean his head wound. "From what Colin told me that sounds quite a lot like something the mafia is accused of doing, you know?"

Marius just rolled his eyes and returned to his work.

"Well," Dean said. "If you need help, old man, I'd love to work with you!"

"Do I look as if I needed help?" Marius asked gruffly.

Dean scratched his head.

"Nah, not really," he said hesitatingly.

"But you asked because you hoped to lay low at my house again," Marius filled in the blanks. "And here he was telling me he didn't keep coming back here!"

"Well, your house is comfy!"

"You said that before," Marius reminded the boy. "Honestly, youth! Don't you have someone else you can bother?"

Dean thought about that.

"Nope!" He finally said cheerfully, before remembering something. "Oh… there's something else, Mr. Black! Theo has lost his wand – do you have a spare somewhere?"

Marius turned and stared at the boy.

"What letter don't you understand when it comes to the word 'squib'?" He asked incredulously. "Maybe the 'b' and you thought I was telling you I'm a _squid_ , or what?"

Dean looked at him innocently.

"Oh, come on, Mr. Black!" He said. "You and I know you have hundreds of things hidden away in your cellar! Chances are that there's at least one wand in there!"

Marius sighed, but when he finished with his current task, he went upstairs to his attic.

When he returned he had a sack over his shoulder.

He sat it down in front of Theo.

"Alright, lad," he said. "Let's see which of these sticks is something you can use…"

And he opened the sack to reveal the hundreds of wands he had in them.

Dean stared at the wands.

"Weapon's dealer," he said under his breath. "Definitely not a 'one man mafia' – my ass!"

Marius would never get rid of Dean ever again.

xXxXxXxXxXxNapxXxXxXxTimexXxXxXxXxTimexXxXxXxXxNapxXxXxXxXxXxXx

 _Just a little idea_

 _Hope you liked it_

 _Ebenbild_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Disclaimer**_ _: I'm too young to be Rowling so there is sadly no way Harry Potter is mine…_

 _ **Placing:**_ _Seventh_ _year_ _._

 _Challenge: 'Prompt of the day'. Prompt_ _: (_ _location_ _)_ record shop _. 2000_ _words_ _._ _Gryffindor_ _,_ _Hogwarts_ _._

xXxXxXxXxXxNapxXxXxXxTimexXxXxXxXxTimexXxXxXxXxNapxXxXxXxXxXxXx

sSsSsSsSs

 _ **HIDING PLACES**_

 _ **Part IV: The Accountant**_

sSs

Dean entered the record shop in central Aberdeen while trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. He opened the door measuredly, then closed it behind himself as if he hadn't any care in the world. After that, he ambled over to the rock music and started to search the records the shop had.

He was searching the records for about five minutes when the door of the record shop opened again and another person stepped inside, closing the door measuredly.

Dean stiffened.

Thanks to his training with Marius Black, he had learned to differentiate between wizards and muggles and squibs – and the man who had stepped inside definitely was magical.

"Well," Dean corrected himself a minute later. "Not truly magical. Squib."

He relaxed again after recognising this.

Maybe, he shouldn't have let his guard down because not even half a minute later, a hand clamped down on his shoulder and someone leaned over his shoulder.

"Don't move and act as if you know me," the squib said and Dean stiffened again when he felt the man's breath brushing his neck.

"What -?" Dean said, wondering fearfully if Voldemort had finally thought things through and added squibs to his Snatchers – the cohorts Dean had been fleeing from before he entered the shop.

The record shop was hidden behind wards that repelled every other wizard not trained to look through those, meaning: Everybody else but muggle-borns who by nature had more often come into contact with these kind of wards when they were young and therefore had learned to ignore them.

"Sometimes," Dean had always figured. "It's a good thing to be muggle-born."

But now a squib was standing behind Dean, holding him in place by the tight grip on his shoulder, and Dean wondered if Voldemort had wised-up and recruited squibs to his endeavour.

Then the squib shifted for a moment as if looking somewhere else than Dean, before again leaning over Dean's shoulder, this time speaking rapidly.

"There are about ten of those Snatcher-brutes out there, waiting for you to return to their field of vision," the squib said and Dean relaxed for a moment before stiffening again when he registered the words.

"They're waiting?" he mumbled.

"They are," the squib confirmed.

"Damn," Dean cursed. "I hoped that they would have left already. They shouldn't even know that I'm near them!"

"They shouldn't," the squib said, the frown even audible in his voice. "But they obviously do."

Dean cursed again.

He was in a record shop!

He could only stay that long before being eyed suspiciously by the owner or before the shop closed for the day. If they continued to wait instead of searching for him elsewhere, they would catch him in the end.

"This is getting very concerning," Dean mumbled finally. "At first, they only always caught up to me, but now they actually know somehow where I am. If this continues, every muggle-born out there will have a serious problem."

"You already have one," the squib mumbled. "I heard that bloodied corpses of three people were found near Yorkshire yesterday. From what I could read in between the lines of the muggle news, those three have had to be muggle-borns or blood-traitors."

Dean softly cursed again.

"So they're somehow tracking all of us – and their method is getting better and better," he concluded.

"It seems like it," the squib behind him said, then the man hesitated, before adding slowly. "Do you have another place to lay low for now? Preferably something with wards like here?"

Dean thought about it.

"Yeah," he finally said. "I could go to Marius's. He's living a few streets from here. I haven't seen him for two weeks, but I guess that when I explain the situation, I might be able to hide-out there."

"Good," the squib said.

"I just have no way of getting there," Dean added in frustration.

The squib just patted his back.

"Don't worry 'bout that, boy," he said, "I know how to distract them. Black's home isn't that far, with me distracting them, you should make it there if you run as if the devil's hot on your tail."

Dean's eyes narrowed and he turned slightly so that he could see the face of the man behind him. The man had red locks and bright blue eyes and reminded Dean of the Weasley twins.

"You know Marius?" He asked carefully.

The older man rolled his eyes.

"Who doesn't?" he asked rhetorically. "Every squib out there knows about Marius. That damn man is scary enough without magic to scar the shit out of Grindelwald – believe me, someone like that is watched by people who want to stay alive."

Dean raised an eyebrow.

Then he remembered Marius exclamation of 'taking over some of the Death Eaters' businesses and cementing in some Snatchers' and Death Eaters' feet to throw them into the bay or bashing some of the others' head in with a baseball bat' and he shuddered.

"Yeah," he said, "I guess it is very reasonable to know about people like him – especially if you live in the same part of the city."

The older man looked at him pityingly.

"It's wise to know about men like him if you live in the same universe," he corrected Dean gently. "But don't worry, he isn't the 'wrong sort of people' – just someone every sane person should meet with a healthy dose of respect and caution."

"Sounds like Marius," Dean agreed.

"Now, boy, let me start the distraction," the squib said and let go of Dean's shoulder.

"Wait!" Dean exclaimed, stopping the man before he could walk away. "Who are you? What's your name?"

The squib smirked.

"Most people nowadays simply call me 'The Accountant'," he said. "Others just call me 'Boo'. Doesn't matter anyway right now. I see you at Black's!"

And with that, the squib left the record shop and stepped in front of the Snatchers.

His face showed an evil looking smile.

The Snatchers eyes widened.

Fear twisted their faces into grimaces.

The squib's evil grin deepened.

"Boo!" The man said and then kicked one of the Snatchers into a place that made Dean hurt just by watching. For a moment the Snatchers were all too surprised and afraid to do anything – and that cost them dearly. Two more of them went down before they even thought about drawing their wands at their attacker.

Then they started cursing and spells in all the colours of the rainbow lit up the street.

What happened next nearly made Dean forget his goal of running away from the Snatchers.

With grace Dean had ever only read about in books, the squib… fought. It looked like a deadly dance of avoidance and attack, perfectly timed and a lot more fear-inducing than the spells being thrown around in broad daylight.

"I want to do that, too," Dean thought jealously. Then he remembered to run.

The last thing he saw before he rounded the corner was the stranger taking down another three Snatchers nearly simultaneously with some well-placed hits and kicks.

It was awe-inspiring to look at.

When Dean reached his destination, his followers were still not anywhere to be seen.

Dean wondered if they were still lying on the ground whimpering – he actually wouldn't be too surprised if they were.

He knocked on Marius's front door.

The old man opened the door and groaned.

"You were here just a week ago!" he complained.

"Two weeks ago," Dean corrected. "And I need to hide. Snatchers."

Marius sighed.

"I should have never brought you in the first time around," he said grumbling. "Should have guessed that you would keep coming back…"

But he opened the door anyway and closed it behind Dean before gesturing him inside to the living room. He vanished into the kitchen and two minutes later returned with tea.

"So you were followed by Snatchers?" Marius asked Dean while setting down the tea tray.

"Yeah," Dean said. "They seem to have found a way to track where I actually am," his face darkened at that. "They trapped me inside a record shop and only happy coincidence gave me a way to escape."

Marius frowned.

"They can track where you are now?" he asked concerned.

"At least when they're hot on my tail," Dean replied darkly.

"That's not good," Marius frowned, "how did you escape?"

"I had some help," Dean replied. "He told me he would meet me here."

Marius raised an eyebrow.

"He?" he repeated. "Who?"

Dean shrugged.

"He told me that most people call him 'The Accountant'," he said and Marius flinched.

"Boo," the older man said. "I'm feeling sorry for the Snatchers."

Dean looked at the older man incredulously.

"You cemented some of their feet and drowned them in the bay," he pointed out.

Marius waved it off.

"When Boo's done with them, they're wishing that it was me they met. Drowning in the bay isn't that bad, you know?" Marius said.

Dean raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe not for the mafia," he pointed out. "I think drowning is a very, very terrible death."

"But at least it's over after they've drowned," Marius answered. "The Accountant isn't known to end things quickly."

Dean looked at the older man carefully.

"Somehow I get the feeling that I shouldn't ask about other squibs in the muggle world," he said slowly. "Sounds to me as if you all decided that 'hey, we're not wizards, but mafia is always another option when it comes to living in secret!'"

Marius raised an eyebrow.

"I know a lot of decent squibs: shop keepers, stockbrokers, accountants, teachers, etc.," he said amusedly. "Not one of them is in any way or form criminal."

Dean raised an eyebrow at that.

"You want to tell me that you're the exception?" He asked incredulously. "From my tracking record, I'd say that you and the Accountant are the norm and the others the exception."

Marius met his gaze evenly.

"And how many squibs do you know?" he asked.

Dean shrugged.

"You and the Accountant," he replied.

"I don't count," Marius said. "It's the Black blood in me. There's no way that I sit by when I'm a true Black at heart."

Dean's second eyebrow joined his first.

"So the Accountant is a Black as well?" He asked. "Is he part of your mafia? Another Black squib who decided to keep the family business running in the muggle world?"

Marius snorted.

"He's a Prewett," he said. "Second cousin to Molly Prewett, I think you told me about her son… Roland? Ronald? Whatever…"

"He's related to the Weasleys?" Dean asked faintly.

Marius nodded.

"Prankster blood," he said as if that explained everything. "The worst kind, even worse than Black blood. Those Snatchers will wish they were never born at all."

Dean wanted to object, but then he thought about what the Weasley twins would do to the Death Eaters or Snatchers and had to concede. Maybe facing off against a prankster was the worst thing you could do when you wanted to win…

In that moment, Marius's entrance door opened.

Marius groaned.

"Yes, Boo," he said sarcastically. "Come on in, no need to actually knock, after all…"

"I thought as much," the Accountant's voice could be heard. "After all, if you wanted me to knock, you would have used a different kind of lock. The one you have is barely a challenge."

"Professional robbers had to admit defeat in front of my lock," Marius grumbled under his breath to Dean's amusement. "And here he comes, saying it's substandard. That damn hooligan should have stayed in the wizarding world as a thief!"

"I heard that!" The Accountant said and rounded the corner into the living room. "Stop complaining, Doc, you and I both know that being a thief in the wizarding world isn't half as satisfying as it should be."

Dean blinked, then he shook his head.

"I don't want to know," he told himself, before registering something else. "Hey! Why do you call Marius 'Doc'? He's a doctor or what?"

"Nah," the Accountant said. "He's the Doc like I'm the Accountant. He fixes everything if asked, I make sure you come out even in the end."

"And here he told me, he's not mafia," Dean pouted.

The Accountant grinned.

"We're not mafia," he said. "How did you come up with that idiotic idea anyway?"

"Bu… wha… huh?" Dean said, then shook his head.

Squibs, he concluded, were scary – maybe even a lot scarier than Death Eaters or Snatchers…

"Not mafia, my ass!"

xXxXxXxXxXxNapxXxXxXxTimexXxXxXxXxTimexXxXxXxXxNapxXxXxXxXxXxXx

 _Just a little idea_

 _Hope you liked it_

 _Ebenbild_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Disclaimer**_ _: I'm too young to be Rowling so there is sadly no way Harry Potter is mine…_

 _ **Placing:**_ _Seventh_ _year_ _._

 _Challenge: 'Prompt of the day'. Prompt_ _: (_ _word_ _)_ museum _. 1845_ _words_ _._ _Gryffindor_ _,_ _Hogwarts_ _._

xXxXxXxXxXxNapxXxXxXxTimexXxXxXxXxTimexXxXxXxXxNapxXxXxXxXxXxXx

sSsSsSsSs

 _ **HIDING PLACES**_

 _ **Part V: Breaking And Entering**_

sSs

"You want to break into a museum," Dean said slowly and incredulously.

Sometimes, he wondered if he had made the right decision when, at the beginning of what would have been his seventh year, he ran from Voldemort's goons instead of going with them willingly. Of course, running from them meant that he was still free to do what he wanted, but at the same time, running from them also meant that he ended up in the company of two insane squibs, determined to make his life a living hell.

"Well, not truly breaking in," squib Number One, known as 'The Accountant' or 'Boo' said amused.

"Just entering at night when nobody else is around," squib Number Two, one Marius Black, also known as 'Doc' added.

"Sounds like breaking into the museum to me," Dean pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

Marius and the Accountant exchanged a glance.

"It's not as if we're breaking into the museum to take anything," the Accountant finally said. "It's also not as if somebody will know that we were there after that night."

"This still sounds like breaking and entering into a museum to me," Dean pointed out seriously.

The Accountant and Marius again exchanged a glance, then they shrugged.

"Alright," the Accountant said. "Maybe it's a tiny bit like breaking into a museum."

"But it's not as if we truly want to steal something from it," Marius added.

Dean looked at the table and their plans pointedly.

Both squibs had used the last three hours to draw up plans how to enter the Natural History Museum of London to rob it of one of its treasures.

"Well," Marius amended, sounding not the least defensive. "It's not as if we're stealing something from their exhibition. The thing we need is in their archive, and I'm quite sure that they even don't know that they have it."

"It's still breaking and entering," Dean pointed out stubbornly.

Marius turned to the Accountant.

"He thinks that that fact should bother us, Boo," he said to his partner in crime.

The Accountant shrugged.

"He's still young, Doc," he pointed out. "He'll learn some time in the future."

Dean groaned.

Two insane squibs who weren't bothered at all if they stayed on the legal side of things or not. One of them – Marius – did everything Dean thought that the mafia would, like cementing in people, drowning them, ridding them of their businesses, etc. The other one, according to the Mafioso, was worse – which didn't reassure Dean at all.

"Why, by Merlin's beard, do you two even _want_ to break into that museum?" Dean finally asked. He had been sitting across from those two insane squibs the entire time, and yet he somehow had missed the moment they decided to break into a museum. In Dean's point of view, one minute the two of them talked about the nuisance that were the Snatchers Voldemort was sending all over Britain, the next they were discussing avidly how to break into the Natural History Museum of London.

The Accountant shrugged.

"It's not as if something is stopping me," he said amused.

Dean sighed. From what he had heard of the Accountant in the last half an hour, the man was a natural when it came to breaking into places he shouldn't be in. It didn't matter if the place had wards on it to keep people out or the best security available – the harder it was to break into a building, the faster the Accountant seemed to get in.

"It's a walk in the park for him," Marius assured him, as if Dean needed assurance that the Accountant would come out of that adventure alive.

Dean groaned.

"That's not what I meant!" He cried. "I wanted to know why you even think that we have to break into the museum at all!"

Now the two squibs looked at him as if _he_ was the insane one in the room.

"Because we can't do magic?" the Accountant said incredulously. "Or have you forgotten that little fact, boy?"

Dean groaned again.

"No," he said. "I haven't. And it still doesn't explain why you think that you have to break into a museum!"

The two squibs looked at each other. Then they looked back at Dean.

"Well," Marius said. "You were the one who pointed out that the Snatchers are getting better and better with snatching people. You told me that they had to have a way to track you even if you don't use magic or are near them."

Dean rolled his eyes.

"Half of that I didn't say, but the Accountant did," he pointed out.

The Accountant shrugged.

"It's true nevertheless," Marius said unimpressed.

"I know," Dean replied. "It still doesn't explain to me why you need to break into a museum!"

Marius sighed at that.

"Some muggle museums have some very neat magic hidden away in their archives," he said. "The Natural History Museum of London, for example, has a device that can pinpoint and destroy tracking spells. Very neat, you know."

Dean blinked surprised.

A device to destroy tracking charms… something like that would mean that whatever the thugs of Voldemort used to track the fleeing muggle-borns and blood-traitors could be destroyed if they just go their hands on the device…

"Huh," he said. "When you put it like that, breaking into a museum actually makes some sense…"

"Thought as much," Marius said before turning to the Accountant. "Guess that's your go-ahead, Boo."

The other man's slight grin turned evil.

"I wouldn't have stopped planning even if he had said 'no'," he pointed out amused.

Marius just waved it off.

"I know," he said. "But I thought that the lad would be at least a bit reassured if he figured that part of the plan was his willingness to accept the plan…"

The Accountant blinked in surprise.

"Well," he said dryly. "I guess I ruined that part now."

Marius nodded seriously.

"You did," he said. "But don't worry, he'll live."

"You two," Dean said slowly. "Are scary… Really, really scary!"

The Accountant and Marius Black simultaneously raised an eyebrow at that.

The look on their faces was the absolute same.

"You don't know the half of it," they chorused and Dean shuddered.

"I take that back," he said. "I should have added another twenty 'really' to my previous sentence. You are absolutely, totally terrifying!"

The two squibs shrugged unbothered.

"It's not as if we can use magic," the Accountant pointed out.

"Says the man who can dodge hundreds of spells at the same time without being hit once," Dean replied.

"Necessary," the Accountant replied. "And now quit stalling. I have to go back to my day to day job tomorrow morning."

Dean raised an eyebrow.

"Day to day job?" He repeated. "What does someone like you do as a day to day job? I mean, you're bored by the idea of breaking into a highly secured building like the Natural History Museum, I'm not sure what could someone like you do for a day to day job…"

The Accountant shrugged.

"I'm a stockbroker," he said amused.

Dean snorted.

"Not an accountant?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

The man waved it off.

"Nah," he said. "That's just what I told Molly and Arthur the last time I saw them. I thought it a good precaution, 'cause the chances that they heard me being called 'Accountant' are higher than I like them to be. Like that, they at least won't question it."

Dean rolled his eyes.

"I don't want to know," he decided sighing.

"Good decision," Marius said and Dean shivered.

Dean was still sure that Marius was a one man mafia… or maybe the Accountant and Marius were a two men mafia, who knew? Nevertheless, Marius was mafia – and the Accountant seemed to fit in there as well.

 _Scary squibs._

Dean would never look at any other squib the same way.

Then he remembered that he actually knew a third squib as well.

Argus Filch, the groundskeeper of Hogwarts.

Dean shuddered.

What did that man do in his free time when the two in front of him were a one-man-mafia and a thief?

"I don't want to know," Dean thought fiercely. "I don't want to know."

"How do you even know that the device is in the archives of the Natural History Museum?" Dean finally asked aloud, not sure if he truly wanted to know the answer.

Marius and the Accountant exchanged another glance.

"It's were I hid it after stealing it from one of Grindelwald's top men," Marius finally said.

The Accountant looked a little bit thoughtfully.

"Was that the one you hung by his little toe after you made sure that he had learned the message to Grindelwald by heart?" He asked casually. "Something akin to 'if you look at my brother the wrong way again, I do the same and worse to you'? I heard the man was barely recognisable when Grindelwald found him…"

"Nah," Marius said, waving it off. "The thing I stole back then is hidden inside the Tower of London. The one for the device we're going after I left with the mating dragons. It was his fault, by the way, he shouldn't have tried to curse me with that bone-breaker hex he invented."

"Wait," Dean said faintly. "Grindelwald?"

The Accountant looked at him pityingly.

"I told you that damn man is scary enough without magic to scar the shit out of Grindelwald – did you think I exaggerated?" he asked half-amused, half-pityingly.

Dean blinked.

He had forgotten that those had been the first words the Accountant had ever said to him about one Marius Black. But then, even if he had remembered then, he wasn't sure if he would have believed them – after all, Marius looked old, but definitely not old enough to have fought Grindelwald. Fifty maybe sixty years of age, definitely not older.

"Er…" Dean said slowly.

"He did," Marius said amused. "Don't worry, boy, it's not as if anybody else would have believed it."

Dean snorted.

"Oh," he said. "I would have believed it if I had known that you're truly that old."

Marius raised an eyebrow.

"Told you the lad is a bright one," the Accountant said and Dean suddenly had the feeling that there was more going on than he knew. "Now, Doc, how about some tea?"

Marius nodded.

"Good idea," he said. "I think I've got some scones as well."

With that he left for the kitchen, leaving an incredulous looking Dean and an unmoved looking Accountant behind.

"Tea," Dean said faintly.

"It's four o'clock," the Accountant pointed out. "It's tea time."

"Tea," Dean repeated. "After discussing all that you go and have tea."

The Accountant shrugged.

"I never forgo tea-time if I don't have to," he said casually. "Marius knows that. Marius also knows how important tea-time is for a usual day, so tea-time it is."

Dean only shook his head.

"Tea," he repeated mumbling. "Here they are, discussing murder and whatever and then they go and have tea. Not mafia, my ass!"

xXxXxXxXxXxNapxXxXxXxTimexXxXxXxXxTimexXxXxXxXxNapxXxXxXxXxXxXx

 _Just a little idea_

 _Hope you liked it_

 _Ebenbild_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Disclaimer**_ _: I'm too young to be Rowling so there is sadly no way Harry Potter is mine…_

 _ **Placing:**_ _Seventh_ _year_ _._

 _Challenge: 'Prompt of the day'. Prompt_ _: (_ _dialogue_ _)_ "Where's your towel?" _. 2000_ _words_ _._ _Gryffindor_ _,_ _Hogwarts_ _._

xXxXxXxXxXxNapxXxXxXxTimexXxXxXxXxTimexXxXxXxXxNapxXxXxXxXxXxXx

sSsSsSsSs

 _ **HIDING PLACES**_

 _ **Part VI: Jewellery**_

sSs

"A necklace," Dean said incredulously. "You went and broke into the National History Museum of London to steal a simple looking, godforsaken necklace…"

The Accountant frowned.

"I thought I told you that we didn't steal anything," he said. "Stealing means the people in charge of the place know that the thing is there and the thing belongs to them, doesn't it? So it cannot count as stealing if they don't know it's there and if it definitely doesn't belong to them!"

Dean stared at the other two men.

"You broke into the National History Museum of London and now you want to debate stealing with me?" He asked incredulously.

The Accountant just shrugged as an answer while Marius Black shook his head.

"It's not as if anybody knows that we were there," Marius told Dean. "Truly, you're acting as if we were captured by the police red-handed!"

Dean pinched his nose.

"I don't think it matters that you weren't caught –"

"They don't even know that we were there," Marius corrected.

Dean groaned.

"Honestly," he said tiredly. "There you go and tell me that there's no way that anybody will ever find out that you were in the museum – while at the same time telling me you don't have any magic! I'm quite sure that a museum has quite a good security, and at least security cameras in every corner – how by Merlin and Morgana do you believe that you were able to avoid them?"

Marius Black snorted and looked at the Accountant.

"There he goes again with the squib argument," he said amused. "Idiotic child thinks that just because we can't use his stick we're helpless!"

The Accountant just patted Marius' shoulder.

"Don't worry too much about that," he said emotionally. "He has nearly seven years of indoctrination to undo, you know?"

Dean stared at the two men in front of him.

"You're insane!" He finally declared. "Totally insane! You break into a museum for a necklace and have the guts to tell me that you weren't seen or any other way found by the security measurements! That's totally insane – especially without magic!"

Marius just raised his eyebrow at that, but Dean wasn't finished.

"A necklace! A simple, good for nothing necklace!" He moaned.

The Accountant and Marius exchanged a look of pity as if it was Dean who had lost his marbles.

"Youth these days," Marius said sighing and shook his head disappointedly.

The Accountant nodded.

"No sense for simple beauty anymore," he agreed. "Our world is truly doomed…"

Dean stared at the two people in front of them incredulously.

"You two," he finally said slowly. "Are the most insane people I've ever met in my whole life!"

This time the look exchanged between the other two was tinged with amusement.

"Thank you, lad," Marius finally said. "It's good to hear that we rank that high on your list."

Dean groaned.

"I'm pretty sure that that isn't a good thing!" He objected, but the two squibs didn't seem bothered by that at all.

For the next four and a half minutes Dean lamented how much better his life might have been if he had never met the two insane squibs in front of him, but in the end, he finally understood that wishing for a different past wouldn't help him at all.

He groaned, sighed and finally decided to move on to safer pathways.

"So… the necklace," Dean said finally while again taking a look at the simple silver necklace that was lying in front of him on the table. It didn't look much.

It was made of blackened silver, without any kind of adornment to it. Dean was sure that there had to be hundreds or thousands of similar necklaces out there! He couldn't understand how those two squibs thought that the one in front of them was in any way or form special…

"How do you know it's enchanted the way you think it is?" He finally asked.

The two squibs looked at him as if they weren't sure if he didn't need some kind of medical attention for his insanity.

"How don't you know that it's enchanted?" The Accountant asked with interest in his eyes.

"Huh?" Dean looked at the other man confused and the Accountant turned to Marius.

"You did teach him how to use his magic differently, didn't you?" He asked a little bit accusing.

Marius Black just raised an eyebrow.

"Of course I did, Boo," he said half-amused, half-insulted. "Who do you think I am?"

The Accountant frowned.

"I heard you were hanging around with magicals a lot in the last months," he finally said. "I wasn't sure if it hadn't affected you in any way or form…"

"Ah!" Marius nodded earnestly, understanding filling his eyes. "Of course! A valid concern. But don't worry, Boo, I'm not yet going back to the stupidity of the wizarding kind. I _was_ taught better than that, you know?"

Dean definitely couldn't let that stand.

"Hey!" he objected and the two squibs turned to look at him. "Magicals aren't stupid!"

The two squibs snorted, then the Accountant patted Dean's head.

"You've still a lot to learn if that's what you think, my apprentice," he said.

"Don't worry, Boo," Marius said sighing. "We will teach him… someday."

Dean opened his mouth to object to Marius words, but before he could, a knock could be heard from the door.

The Accountant looked towards the corridor and then back at Marius.

"You've got an appointment today?" He asked.

Marius waved it off.

"Nah," he said unconcerned. "That should be one of the nuisances that can't stop visiting me."

"Nuisances?" The Accountant asked amused.

"Yeah," Marius replied, obviously not interested in opening the door. "They come by and use my place as a hide-out. Nuisances, I say."

"People use your place as a hide-out?" Dean asked incredulously.

The older man just raised an eyebrow challengingly.

"That's all your fault, actually, lad," he declared. "Since you brought by that Nott boy, I haven't been able to get rid of him and his gang!"

The Accountant sighed.

"Then shouldn't we let them in?"

Marius frowned.

"Do we have to?" He asked, his face emotionless.

The Accountant thought that over.

"Not really," he said shrugging. "But you might have to put a new paint job or two on your door if you don't. I heard that blood is not that easy to hide with paint, you know?"

"You heard?" Marius said amused. "Sounds more like you had to try and do a paint-job like that to me…"

The Accountant waved it off.

"What can I say?" He said. "I'm a man of many talents."

Marius snorted.

"And there he goes and tells me I scared the shit out of Grindelwald," he said amused. "Prankster blood! Nobody is scarier than those who have it flowing through their veins!"

Dean stared at the Accountant and then at Marius.

"And there they go and refuse to believe they're mafia," he mumbled to himself. "Damn insane and scary squibs!"

The two squibs exchanged a look, clearly having heard Dean's exclamation.

"We're not mafia," they chorused, then Marius stood up and went to the door, the Accountant hot on his heels.

Dean couldn't see what was happening in the corridor, but he definitely heard the door open.

Then there was a nervous 'Whoa, man, we're not hostiles!'

Marius' answer was a snort.

"You're a Nott," he said gruffly. "Black's never trust a Nott!"

"I'm as good as disinherit," the voice of Theodore Nott replied. "I told you that before, old man!"

"You sure we're safe here, Theo?" another voice chimed in nervously. "It doesn't look safe, you know?"

"Don't worry, we are," Theo replied. "Dean showed me this place."

"Just because that damn youth brought you here doesn't mean that you can come back, brat," was Marius cool reply.

"So you let us stand here until the Snatchers caught up with us?" Theo asked incredulously.

The answer was a laugh from the Accountant.

"He's got you there, Doc!" He said amused and Marius grumbled.

In the end, the oldest sighed and declared: "Alright, come on in."

The next that could be heard was shuffling, then Theo and Colin Creevey rounded the corner and entered the living room.

They both stopped surprised and stared at Dean.

"Dean!" Colin greeted happily before reaching behind himself and pulling his little brother Dennis into view. "What are you doing here, old chap?"

"Hiding," Dean drawled. "What else?"

The answer was an amused snort coming from Theo.

Then Marius spoke up from behind them.

"If you would step aside, nuisances? I would love to return to my living room, if you'd please!"

Theo and Colin flushed and hurriedly entered the room, dragging Dennis with them by default.

"Gets a bit crowded in here, it seems," the Accountant commented while following Marius into the room and to the sofas.

"You could say that," Dean said dryly. The room wasn't that big and with the six of them, it definitely was getting crowded.

"Well, a bit maybe," Colin said. "But it's not as if we had the time to find another place to hide. Those damn Snatchers are getting better and better. They've been following us for a day now and we were unable to get rid of them."

The Accountant frowned.

"Maybe you should activate that runic confundus you have on your property, Doc," he said. "That should stop those child-killers from camping out on your doorstep."

The Black just raised an eyebrow at the Accountant.

"I'd ask how you know about that," he said dryly, "But that would mean that I'd expect you to actually answer that question – and we both know you would never do that, Boo."

"Exactly," the Accountant replied. "Now, do you plan to activate them or do you want those child-killers to camp-out on your doorstep?"

Marius thought about it.

"You think they'll camp-out?" He asked the Accountant interestedly.

"They might," the Accountant replied. "They are somehow tracking them and they camped-out at the record store for the other boy."

Dean rolled his eyes.

"Dean," he said. "My name is Dean as you well know after three days of knowing me."

"Some things I prefer to forget," the Accountant said dismissively. "Especially if it's the name of the magical who can't understand that I didn't steal anything."

Dean rolled his eyes a second time.

"I really feel loved today," he said sarcastically.

"Good," the Accountant said. "That's one thing off the list. Now, Doc, do I need some cleaning supplies for the camp-out in front of your door or do we activate the confundus?"

Marius thought about it.

"Go for your supplies," he finally declared. "Just give me a moment to look for the cement."

Dean, Theo and Colin stared at Marius.

"The cement?" Colin finally asked confused. "Why do you need cement?"

Marius just waved it off as unimportant.

"For my part of them," he said before looking at the Accountant. "If you need something, I might have a thing or two in the cellar. I'm even willing to give those things away without payment as long as you don't colour my door red."

The Accountant thought about it.

"Seems like a fair deal to me," he finally said. "Give me a moment or two and I go looking. I might need a white towel or two."

Dean frowned and looked at the other three boys before mouthing 'a towel?'

"Where's your towel?" Marius asked interestedly.

"Back home," the Accountant replied. "Wasn't planning on interrogation when I came here, you know?"

Theo turned green.

"How do you use a towel in interrogation?" He asked faintly.

Marius just looked at the boy pityingly.

"Believe me," he said. "You don't want to know."

The Accountant shrugged.

"It's not that bad," he said. "I mostly just use it to make things look worse than they are. Intimidation tactic and all that. A white towel just enhances the red of blood. It looks scarier that way. Of course there are other –"

"I don't want to know!" white-faced Colin interrupted the insane squib while he pressed his hands to his younger brother's ears. "I truly don't want to know!"

The Accountant shrugged and turned back to Marius.

"The towels?"

"Kitchen," the older man said dismissively. "Everything else you might want is in the basement."

The Accountant nodded.

"Thanks," he said before asking. "Are you planning to call in the Gang for the clean-up or do we use the bay?"

This time, Dean couldn't stay silent anymore.

All he could think about were Marius' and the Accountant's objections that they were mafia… and now they were talking about a _gang_!

"The _Gang_?" He repeated incredulously.

"Nah," Marius said, either answering the Accountant, misinterpreting Dean or doing both at once. "Thought we're using the bay. More chances of the bodies being found and all that…"

Dean's eyes nearly bulged out.

"You want the bodies being found?" Colin ask faintly.

"Nah," Marius said. "But I wouldn't be totally against it. And you have to admit, Boo, the Gang is way too good at hiding bodies."

"They are," the Accountant said. "It's part of their service, after all."

"Good service," Marius nodded. "Just a little bit boring for my taste… and a little bit too close to the morons of the wizarding world –"

"What _gang_?" Dean intercepted the discussion heatedly. He somehow felt ignored.

Marius and the Accountant turned and looked at him frowning.

"The _Gang Of Bothersome, Limitless, Impressive Non-Magicals,_ what else?" The Accountant said as if it was a given. When Dean, Theo and Colin exchanged confused glances, the Accountant's frown deepened.

He looked at Marius.

Marius scratched his head in confusion.

"You don't know the Gang?" The Accountant finally said, staring at all of them as if they had grown a second head.

The three magicals exchanged a look and then shook their heads at once.

"Don't you know anything about the _real_ world?" Marius Black finally asked with a sigh.

Dean pouted.

"Not one of us is part of the mafia," he pointed out. "We definitely don't deal with gangs or drown people in the bay."

The Accountant groaned.

"No wonder your lessons on odd magic didn't stick, Doc," he said. "Those three are totally clueless! Tell me, was anyone of you ever in Diagon Alley at all?"

Dean looked at the two insane squibs in confusion.

"We all visited Diagon Alley," he said sharply. "Why by Merlin and Morgana do you think we didn't?"

The Accountant and Marius exchanged a look.

"Because nobody with working eyes could miss the white marble building of the Gang in the middle of Diagon Alley," Marius Black pointed out incredulously.

"White marble building?" Dean asked confused. As far as he remembered there was just one such a building in the alley. " _Gringotts_?"

"Yes, _Gringotts_ ," the Accountant said sarcastically. "What else did you think I was talking about? Ollivander's maybe?"

"But… but Gringotts is run by the goblins…" Theo stuttered confused.

"Yes, by the goblins – the _**G**_ _ang_ _ **O**_ _f_ _ **B**_ _othersome,_ _ **L**_ _imitless,_ _ **I**_ _mpressive_ _ **N**_ _on-Magical_ _ **s**_ _– G.O.B.L.I.N._ ," the Accountant said. "What else did you think 'goblins' stood for?"

With a shake of his head he left for the kitchen and the basement.

"I'm going to find the cement," Marius said while also shaking his head. "After visiting the bay we might have to contact the Gang nevertheless. Maybe there's a way for them to either copy the enchantment on the necklace or split it up into more than one or something like that. It's a little bit too small to fit you three at once, after all."

And with that the two insane squibs went out to get themselves some Snatchers camping on Marius' doorstep.

Dean, Colin, Dennis and Theo looked at each other.

"Goblins," Dean said faintly. "And there they go and claim they're not the mafia! My Ass!"

xXxXxXxXxXxNapxXxXxXxTimexXxXxXxXxTimexXxXxXxXxNapxXxXxXxXxXxXx

 _Just a little idea_

 _Hope you liked it_

 _Ebenbild_


End file.
